A disc recording/reproducing apparatus used for optical recording and reproduction is equipped with an optical pickup for reading a signal recorded on a disc (magneto-optical disc) that is a recording medium and also a recording head corresponding to the optical pickup.
The recording head applies a magnetic field for writing a signal onto a disc, and is raised and lowered as necessary. That is, since the recording head is not needed during the reproduction of signals, the recording head is raised so as to separate the recording head from an information recording surface of the disc and during the recording of signals, the recording head is lowered so as to approach the information recording surface of the disc and applies a magnetic field for recording signals onto the disc.
In a disc recording/reproducing apparatus equipped with a head raising/lowering mechanism for raising and lowering the recording head, a motor is used as the driving source of the head raising/lowering mechanism, that is, the motor is driven to operate the head raising/lowering mechanism and thereby raise or lower the recording head.
A construction in which the motor that is the driving source of the head raising/lowering mechanism is disposed on the optical pickup (see “Patent Document 1”) and a construction where the motor is disposed on a cartridge holder that holds a disc cartridge (see “Patent Document 2”) and the like are known as conventional examples of this kind of disc recording/reproducing apparatus.
Patent Document 1
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H10-40632
Patent Document 2
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-36800
With both of these conventional disc recording/reproducing apparatuses, a large space is required for disposing the motor that is the driving source of the head raising/lowering mechanism, so that the overall apparatus size is increased and it is difficult to make the apparatuses smaller or slimmer.
Recently, there is especially strong demand for apparatuses to be made smaller and/or slimmer, so that there is demand for a disc recording/reproducing apparatus construction that can satisfy such demand.